Sounds

[Archive]

Originally posted by Bill Perez on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Aug 12, 2015

I am one who loves the railpro system. I believe the potential is there to do a lot things with the system. One of its downfalls is the sounds that are available to the end user. Does anyone have any idea how we could get more sounds; prime movers in particular. I think that the software for the system is great but not sure how to generate a custom sound for a prime mover. I feel there is a lack of knowledge transfer that we need to make full use of the system. Does anyone feel the same way I do?

[Archive]

Originally posted by kpack05 on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Aug 12, 2015

Bill - yes, I would say that most of us feel the way you do about the sounds.  The system and control itself is excellent, but the sounds are lacking.  That being said, the sounds have been improving especially lately. 

You asked how we could get more sounds.  The best way to get more sounds is basically "crowd-sourcing"...meaning Railpro users get out and record sounds and make them available to everyone else.  The more people are recording the faster the sound library will grow and the better the quality of sounds.

How to obtain recordings is the difficult part.  Getting the recording equipment is easy though it can add up a bit.  Finding opportunities to record is another matter altogether.  Perhaps the easiest way to find recording subjects is to talk to local shortlines and tourist railroads.  They'd be much more willing to let an enthusiast record their equipment than a Class 1 railroad. 

Recording equipment (these are suggestions):

Recorder: http://www.amazon.com/TASCAM-DR-05-Portable-Digital-Recorder/dp/B004OU2IQG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439412644&sr=8-1&keywords=tascam

http://www.amazon.com/DR-40-4-Track-Portable-Digital-Recorder/dp/B005NACC6M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1439412644&sr=8-2&keywords=tascam

http://www.amazon.com/Zoom-Handy-Portable-Digital-Recorder/dp/B003QKBVYK/ref=pd_cp_267_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=1JD9Y9RGX00FS28YMGCV

Microphone: http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-Dynamic-Cardioid-Vocal-Microphone/dp/B00006I5R7/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1439412716&sr=1-1&keywords=sennheiser+microphone
(not sure about shotgun mics or others....I'll let somebody else expound on that)

Wind sock (dead cat): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HX40OXY/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1X3DND9EOXQI8&coliid=I1AHGSZLSX565Z

Shock mount: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C86FA0E/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1X3DND9EOXQI8&coliid=I1DMC8PU4HCMZZ

Extension pole: http://www.amazon.com/Rode-Micro-Telescopic-Microphone-Extension/dp/B004X4UZB8/ref=sr_1_2?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1439413087&sr=1-2&keywords=microphone+extension+pole

I have some of this equipment but am waiting on the rest until I can find some railroad equipment to record.  I hope to get some opportunities lined up after summer. 

Once recordings are made you can edit them yourself and load them.  Then either send them to Ring Engineering to distribute to Railpro users or post them here.  For prime mover recordings you will need to send them to Ring in order for them to be edited and converted into a useable file.  This may change if enough people are able to get good prime mover recordings.  And they need to be FULL prime mover recordings....i.e. startup, shutdown, all notches, all transitions, and any other associated sounds (air blasts, etc).

It's definitely not easy to get good recordings, but my hope is that enough of us will be adventurous enough to get out there and get some for the good of us all.

-Kevin

[Archive]

Originally posted by Bill Perez on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Aug 13, 2015

What I think is that if we had the ability to create the prime mover sound ourselves in the software then we could do what we need when we need it. There are many prime mover sounds on the Internet that are available to download. If we had the ability to make them work then we'd be good. I just feel the software is where we need to go so that we can do what we need when we need it.

Bill

[Archive]

Originally posted by William Brillinger on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Aug 13, 2015

Bill,

Can you post a link to a sample of prime mover sound that you feel would be adequate ?
I'd lust like to get an idea of where you're coming from on this.

I agree, it would be nice to have this feature, but I think it's more complicated than it looks at first.

- Bill

[Archive]

Originally posted by Bill Perez on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Aug 19, 2015

I will have to look around and find the websites again. I did not book mark them as they are not usable for me at this time. I can tell you that what I was looking at are sounds that have been used in train simulators that are listed as free downloads for personal use.

Bill

[Joel B.]

 Yes I was wondering the same as Bill about "Sim sounds". I have been getting my "running trains" fix with MSTS until things get a further on my own layout. There's a lot of different sound files for that sim out there.
Not sure how they would work with RP but they are in xxx.wav format. In the sim, a xxx.sms file tell the sim how and when to "play" the .wav files.  A sound engineer might understand things like frequency curves, volume curves and associated curve points and their values.
I'd rather play with trains than program then so I never got into playing around with the sound files.
Here are a couple of sites that I found sounds and info for my sim trains.
http://www.trainsim.com
http://msts.steam4me.net/index.html
I'll be watching.
Joel B.

[William Brillinger]

Where does one find the sounds on those sites?

[KPack]

Joel - I've used some of the sounds found on those websites for my own use, with the owner's permission.  I'm not sure that's necessary for your own use, but I like to be safe.  Some of them are good, some okay, some not very useful.  A few of the authors have very nice recordings, but many are so-so and really don't sound great on our miniature systems.  They are great to experiment with though and get a feel for how to edit sounds.

It does not matter what format the original source recording was in.  It DOES matter though that recording you load onto Railpro be 44.1kHz, 16-bit, mono WAV.  If the source recording was recorded at different settings (most often the sample rate is different) it can be easily changed using programs such as Audacity, which is free. 

What really makes a difference is good recordings from Railpro users.  It's not too expensive to get the equipment to make decent recordings.  The hard part is having access to railroad equipment to record.  Most people have better connections than I do and so should at least be able to record something.  Even simple things like a horn or bell, or air blasts.  Anything is useful.

Bill - There should be a search option on TrainSim that allows you to sort by file type.  Search for MSTS sounds and what you are looking for.  There is a decent selection, but again not all recordings are created the same.  And watch for copyright issues.

-Kevin

[Joel B.]

   I'm sorry for not giving more info finding the sound stuff.
On the http://www.trainsim.com site home page
---click "File Library"
---click "Search Files"  (or Advanced Search)
from the search page:
--- first drop down menu choose "Microsoft Train Simulator Sounds"
  (if you are looking for a particular engine,bell or loco you can add that to "Search For Text" box. ("GP" or "EMD" for ex.)
---Click the "Start Search" Box

Most of the files you can use for your own use with out any problem.
If you right click "view" and open it in a new tab (that's what I do) you can see the files in the "zip" and generally there is a "read me" that can be read online. (Any highlighted file can read or played)

Hope this helps.
Joel B.